Engineering in vacuum or under a protective atmosphere permits the production of materials, wherever the absence of oxygen is an essential demand for a successful processing. However, very few studies have provided quantitative evidence of the effect of oxidized surfaces to tribological properties. In the current study on 99.99% pure copper, it is revealed that tribo-oxidation and the resulting increased abrasive wear can be suppressed by processing in an extreme high vacuum (XHV) adequate environment. The XHV adequate atmosphere was realized by using a silane-doped shielding gas (1.5 vol% SiH₄ in argon). To analyse the influence of the ambient atmosphere on the tribological and mechanical properties, a ball—disk tribometer and a nanoindenter were used in air, argon, and silane-doped argon atmosphere for temperatures up to 800 °C. Resistance measurements of the resulting coatings were carried out. To characterize the microstructures and the chemical compositions of the samples, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used. The investigations have revealed a formation of η-Cu₃Si in silane-doped atmosphere at 300 °C, as well as various intermediate stages of copper silicides. At temperatures above 300 °C, the formation of γ-Cu₅Si were detected. The formation was linked to an increase in hardness from 1.95 to 5.44 GPa, while the Young’s modulus increased by 46% to 178 GPa, with the significant reduction of the wear volume by a factor of 4.5 and the suppression of further oxidation and susceptibility of chemical wear. In addition, the relevant diffusion processes were identified using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations.

在真空或保护气氛下进行工程设计可以生产材料，只要缺氧是成功加工的基本要求。然而，很少有研究提供氧化表面对摩擦学性能影响的定量证据。在当前对 99.99% 纯铜的研究中，表明在极高真空 (XHV) 适当环境中进行加工可以抑制摩擦氧化和由此导致的磨损增加。通过使用硅烷掺杂的保护气体（1.5 vol% SiH ₄在氩气中）。为了分析环境气氛对摩擦学和机械性能的影响，在高达 800 °C 的温度下，在空气、氩气和硅烷掺杂的氩气气氛中使用了球盘摩擦计和纳米压痕仪。对所得涂层进行电阻测量。为了表征样品的微观结构和化学成分，使用了扫描电子显微镜 (SEM)、能量色散 X 射线光谱 (EDS) 和 X 射线衍射 (XRD)。研究揭示了在 300 °C 的硅烷掺杂气氛中形成 η-Cu ₃ Si，以及硅化铜的各种中间阶段。_{在高于 300 °C 的温度下，γ-Cu 5}的形成Si 被检测到。形成与硬度从 1.95 增加到 5.44 GPa 有关，而杨氏模量增加 46% 到 178 GPa，磨损体积显着减少 4.5 倍，并抑制进一步氧化和化学敏感性穿。此外，使用分子动力学 (MD) 模拟确定了相关的扩散过程。